According to the president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Werner Hoyer the European fund for strategic investments (EFSI) has mobilised investments of €50 billion so far.

The fund was announced by EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker at the beginning of his mandate in 2014, and is his administration's main tool to get the European economy back up and running.

It will consist of €21 billion in guarantees, from the EU budget (€16 billion) and the EIB (€5 billion).

The key attribute of the fund is that by providing guarantees for projects that are otherwise deemed too risky, it is expected to pry loose additional public and private investment, which lenders are hesitant to provide without the fund's involvement.

Juncker announced the investment is to be multiplied by a factor 15.

So far, the fund, operating through the EIB and its sister organisation, the European Investment Fund (EIF), has not been able to reach that multiplier.

The EIB has committed €5.7 billion to 42 projects and mobilised €25 billion, a multiplier of almost 4.4.

The EIF had a higher multiplier rate. It committed €1.8 billion and also mobilised €25 billion – a multiplier of almost 14.

'Not relaxed but optimistic'

Despite the lower than announced multiplier for the first projects, Hoyer said the multiplier effect must be measured after the full duration of the plan.

While the Juncker fund officially only began operating as of 1 January this year, the EIB was asked by governments to get started with approving projects in 2015, before the governance structure was fully set-up.

Half of the approved projects so far have been in the environmental and climate sector. Examples include offshore wind farm projects, the installation of smart meters in homes, and motorways.